Teaching is a lonely profession, as not only are you often working on your own alone with your class, but most of the time you are too busy for any proper team building or working relationships to develop with colleagues.

It’s part of the reason why there is an ‘every man for himself’ culture in teaching. Successful teachers do not support those who are struggling, and consider them to be lazy, underhand and always trying to blame other people for their inherent incapability.

This lack of support alienates struggling teachers as if they are someone who needs to be quarantined. This might take many forms, and usually involves clique-ish and excluding behaviour, reporting back to senior management in a form of ‘spying’ and suddenly agreeing completely with any obvious spin to the evidence offered in meetings.

I understand that they are protecting themselves in an eggshell walking environment where you are watched like a hawk. I honestly believe that most successful teachers have just been lucky: they’ve been at a good school, with good classes, they’ve been supported properly, have always been observed when the kids decided to behave themselves and there’s something about their face that management just like.

It’s just a fluke that anyone succeeds in this system, and it’s just a fluke that anyone fails. You can influence the outcome very strongly, like you can dig a trench for a river, but ultimately the river goes where it wants. No teacher is really in control of their own performance.